Justice Efe Ikponmwonba of the Edo State High Court has sentenced two fraudsters, Raji Afeez Onii and Udo-Iwe Aniedi Raphael, to two years in prison for fraud.
The duo was convicted after pleading guilty to a one-count charge of obtaining by false pretence, brought by the Benin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The defendants pleaded guilty, and the prosecution counsel, Salihu Ahmed, requested the court to convict and sentence them accordingly. The defense counsel appealed for mercy, citing the defendants’ remorsefulness.
Justice Ikponmwonba sentenced the duo to two years in prison or a fine of N100,000 each. A Toyota Camry car recovered from Onii was forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria as proceeds of crime.
The court also ordered the restitution of N10,917,357.00 to the victims of the crime.
The charge reads: “That you, Raji Afeez Onii and Udo-Iwe Aniedi Raphael, sometimes in May 2020, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, provided your account details to one Abe Rachel Remote (at large) for the purpose of receiving monies unlawfully obtained from members of the public, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 17(a) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2004, and punishable under Section 17(b) of the same Act.”
The convicts’ troubles began after their arrest by EFCC operatives for collecting money from the public under the guise of investing in forex trading, which turned out to be a fraudulent scheme.
